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When I began my journey towards placing creativity at the center of my world (and eventually all over my life), I desperately needed inspiration from other creatives who had gone down that road. Even though I was not looking to follow some one else’s roadmap step by step (because creativity is not about copying!), I did need to know that other people had survived this road, that the hard parts of this journey were worth the lessons, and that there were wonderful vistas overlooking this beautiful road.

That is one of the motivations for my reaching out to other creatives that I could spotlight. The road to creativity needs buckets of inspiration – to work as motivation and seeds of the possible future. The road to creativity also isn’t just one road – each creative will design their road so it is necessary to see just the different paths people have taken that eventually converged into the road to creativity.For this creativity spotlight, I’d like to introduce artist Maria Bogade. Maria’s journey has always been filled with creativity, with each endeavour building up to the next.

In her words:

A little about me: My name is Maria and I am a mother to two wonderful children, a spouse to a very creative man, a chocolate addict, book lover, pencil and color enthusiast. I am an illustrator specializing in the children’s book market and my first two books (“Getting Dressed” published by HarperCollins Big Cat and “Wee Granny’s Magic Bag” published by Picture Kelpies Floris Books) will be published in September this year.

What was the first step on your road to attaining creativity? What was the tipping point occurrence in which you decided to pursue creativity?

Maria: I cannot claim that creativity has never played an important part in my life. To be honest I have always done creative work and even as a child, like most of us pursuing this road, creativity has played a major role.

I studied Audiovisual Media at the University of Stuttgart and started working, after getting my Diploma, as a freelance 3d Animation Artist. I worked on a lot of fantastic projects and it was creative work I was doing, still I felt I had something else within me I wanted to share. When my second daughter was born and I took some time off, I started a blog, which tipped of my career as a children’s book illustrator. This is only a little more than a year ago and I am only at the very beginning of things. But I already had the pleasure to work with some wonderful publishing houses and people. To be true with you, when starting the blog I wouldn’t have thought it could take me there. In the beginning I didn’t even know myself that this was my ultimate “goal”. Of course I knew for a long time that I wanted to do something with books. It just developed this way when creating one image after the other and my spouse pointing out to me, that obviously I had some kind of passion for illustration that kept me going even late at nights.

What keeps you going/focused?

Maria: I think it is the mere joy of creating an image and my very lively imagination that keeps me going. I have so many ideas floating in my mind and stories I want to tell that it is rather a question when to get them all on paper, than not coming up with an idea.

I think I have the most wonderful job in the world one can ask for. Bringing stories to children through my illustrations and with this enabling them to dream up own stories or just nourishing their childlike imagination is so valuable.

Image copyright Maria Bogade

Why are you on this road to attaining creativity, to fulfilling your creativity passion?

Maria: Not being able to create would probably make me a horrible grumpy person. I think it is apart from my family the most important thing about me and my life which I cannot miss out on.

What have you learned about yourself during this journey? Has it enforced your passion?

Maria: I think my journey only has begun, so this is rather hard to tell. The things that I have accomplished in the last few months do have enforced my passion though. So we have to see where it will take me in the end.

Image copyright Maria Bogade

How do you feel about all the bumps, mistakes, and sidetrips that have occurred during your journey?

Maria: All my sidetracks, mistakes and bumps have made me the person and artist I am today. My 3d Animation career could be seen as such a sidetrip. But it has taught me so many things about storytelling, lighting, posing of characters and much more which is now valuable knowledge to my illustration career.

Mistakes are something you surely do not want to leave out when growing as an artist or person over all. It is those big mistakes that teach us the most. In fact life itself in all its forms is a little try and error game and if you have never failed you have never tried hard enough, that’s actually a quote but unfortunately I don’t remember who it is by. But it surely is the most honest thing to say.

PS: What lays hidden within your spirit that is just waiting for you to fill with passion? What has sparked new interests every day, new lessons, new beginnings, and an eternal sense of adventure? Listen to those thoughts and feelings and see where they lead!

We are all creative, with our own style, our own motivation, our own techniques. But we are also not creativity islands – we need to interact with other creatives to keep our own creativity alive and flourishing.

Because of that interconnected need, I’ve asked fellow creatives to join me in sharing their inspiration and tips on how to keep creativity alive. Looking at other creations, as well as reading about the trepidations and joys of creativity is a daily need!

Erin lives in Southern California with her husband, a Golden Retriever, and a very fat cat. She is a craft addict who loves to do something creative every day. Her current loves are mixed media art, scrapbooking, papercrafts, sewing, and screen printing.

Erin’s creative journey began as a child when she collected memories in a scrapbook…albeit one filled with acidic things and original, non-digital photos. She forgot about those scrapbooks for many years when her Grandmother taught her how to sew, knit and other crafty things. It wasn’t until Erin was engaged to be married that the lure of photos and memories once again captured her heart. Today, Erin’s favorite art subjects are her & her husband, her nieces, and her pets. She tends to focus her projects on the everyday moments more than the big events of life and she has been blessed with having her work published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Trends, and other magazines.

“She Art - Sunshine” by Erin Bassett (photo by Erin Bassett)

To get some cool inspirational stories and tips, I asked Erin 5 questions:

What was the first step on your road to attaining creativity? What was the tipping point occurrence in which you decided to pursue creativity?

Erin: I think that every person is born with creativity even though many don’t recognize it in themselves. I’ve seen it in computer programmers that have a special knack and love for coding, foodies that experiment cooking new cuisines, and Grandfathers that tinker around to create something fun for the grand-kids.

For me, most of my life I’ve recognized creativity and cultivated it. My farthest back memories have been centered around creativity and I am thankful that my Grandmothers and parents fostered my creativity so that later, when I really needed it, it became my alternative calling.

Erin: When one is creative daily (and when a deadline is attached to that creativity) it sometimes can become something that loses the fun and excitement it once had. For me it’s been in those times when I felt the least like working on a project (or even cooking an interesting and creative dinner) that I’ll get a work project that’s challenging. And, because I have to think outside of my box, it reinvigorates me. It’s also in times like these that I’ll be reading my Bible and something will jump out at me that sparks me to create.

Why are you on this road to attaining creativity, to fulfilling your creativity passion?

Erin: I don’t think I could not be creative LOL!

You know when there’s those times when you just don’t have the time to “make”? If I have multiple days like that I get edgy and I’m just not the optimal me I like to be.

What have you learned about yourself during this journey? Has it enforced your passion?

Erin: I’ve learned a couple of things…

When I first started sharing my work outside of my immediate comfort zone of people, I was so concerned with what others thought and if I was following “the rules” when I was creating. As I became more comfortable with showing my work (and more mature spiritually and emotionally) I changed my outlook. I began creating not with those who’d view my work in mind, but with more “gut” decisions and purposeful rule breaking.

I’ve learned that I can rise to challenges. Whether it’s time constraints, product restrictions, or otherwise…I know that I can create work I’m happy with.

How do you feel about all the bumps, mistakes, and sidetrips that have occurred during your journey?

Erin: It’s funny…those are my favorite things! Ok, well, some of the mistakes have been painful, but I’ve learned from them, so I’ll lump them in with my favorite things too.

Check out Erin at the Faber Castell Design Memory Crafts Twitter Party: I’m so excited to let you know that Erin will be hosting the next Twitter Party (Hash Tag: #dmc101 ) for Faber Castell Design Memory Crafts (@designmemcraft ) on Thursday, June 16th at 8:30pm EST – 9:30pm EST….join them for some artsy craft fun…learn new techniques…and win prizes!!

Also, if you love online craft or photography classes, the video classes from the True Scrap event are now available for purchase individually here…Erin’s videos are all about techniques! You’ll love it!

So, what lays hidden within your spirit that is just waiting for you to fill with passion? What has sparked new interests every day, new lessons, new beginnings, and an eternal sense of adventure? Thank you, Erin, for sharing this wonderful inspiration!!

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Welcome!

I'm Pia f. Walker and I'm currently on a journey to attaining creativity in all aspects of my life, but most importantly in my art and writing. Join in the discussion and share how you go about attaining creativity.